Your EQ beats my IQ like a heart trumps a spade
by BlueNynaeve
Summary: 4.3 Matt/Emily missing scene between rooftop and meeting Abby in the lobby. Matt was going to take her into custody at the ARC, why did he change his mind so quickly?


Matt watched her out of the corner of his eye. Her eyes spoke of despair, but her shoulders and stride remained resolute as they crossed the roof. She turned towards the central stairs they had run up a brief few minutes before.

Matt reached out and grasped her elbow. "Wait. We have time and I am a bit banged up, no thanks to you. Let's take the lift."

She gave him an uncomprehending look, allowing him to guide her around to the service elevator. He pushed the green call button and made another attempt to gain her consent to his plan. "It'll be okay. I won't allow Becker to treat you like an animal. Besides, the menagerie is run by Abby and she treats her pets nicer than most parents treat their children."

The woman kept her eyes on the sliding doors, a grimacing twist of her lips her only reply. She was just a few inches shorter than him with the slight heel on her high leather boots. Her clothes were of good quality although extremely dirty and showing signs of discreet repair. Despite her unkempt appearance, Matt felt like he was in the presence of the queen – any attention spared his surroundings dulled in comparison to the magnetism she exuded.

Matt tried again to engage her. "So what is your name?"

"I am Lady Emily Merchant." Her face softened with humor and she slid him a sideways glance. "But since we did just vanquish a tree creeper together, _Matt_, you may address me as Emily".

He grinned at her, overwhelmingly relieved that she was forgiving him for his need to play by the rules and bring her in. He had broken the priority safety protocol earlier by going through the anomaly after her. Lester was going to rip into him with all the sarcasm at his disposal when Matt saw him next. After all, the protocol was one that Matt had championed from the beginning.

The doors of the lift slid open with just the slightest screech in parallel with a matching set of doors at the back of the car. Matt guided the woman in and pressed the ground level button on the panel in the middle of the car's wall. Emily made as if to stride right through the lift and back out the rear doors, but stopped with a shocked gasp as both sets of doors slid shut. Her wide eyes flew to Matt's and he felt an empathic ache at the panic he saw in her.

"Shhh, wait. We'll be on the ground level in a minute," he said soothingly, reaching out a hand to Emily as she wobbled with the jerk of the lift's descent.

She wrapped her arms around her torso and hunched her shoulders, hissing at him, "I hate small spaces."

Given Matt's own dislike of staying for extended periods in small windowless spaces, he immediately pictured the boxy guest rooms at the ARC with dismay. "Hmmm, I don't think you're going to like staying at the ARC then."

"I told you, I don't want to be imprisoned by your soldier." Emily bit her lip, pleading desperately with her eyes. "Please, just let me go find Ethan."

Matt sighed, finally accepting that he was going to break his second rule of the day. The lady was an unknown incursion, even if she was human - he could not just let her go free unregistered. But somehow her tension levels ratcheted his and he knew there was no way he was going to force her into entering the underground ARC facility. At least not today after all of the trauma she had already faced.

"Fine. If we can convince Abby and Becker to keep quiet, I'll take you to my place."

Her grateful smile snuffed the Commander-Gideon-Father-sounding guilt in his head. He did not want to question the feeling too deeply as eagerness to show her his aerie warred with his military-trained disgust of abandoned protocol.

The lift dinged; the doors swooped open. Matt guided Emily towards the lobby, measuring her lessening tension with a solicitous hand on her lithe back.

* * *

_A/N: I'm bummed that Primeval won't continue, especially since I love Emily/Matt. Still, I did very much enjoy Niall Matter as Zane in Eureka and it looks like he's helming the next instance of the series. Maybe they can get Erica Cerra too. :)_

_Please review._


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